[1][2] She creates large-scale, monochromatic canvases and works on paper of singular or multiple figures engaged in sexual acts, executed with successive layers of spray painting over pre-drawings formed by text.
[3][4] Alongside artists such as Carolee Schneemann, Yoko Ono, Valie Export, Joan Semmel, Lynda Benglis and Judy Chicago, Tompkins has been re-assessed as a pioneer of Feminist art.
[10] She was invited to the 7th Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon in 2003, and a year later the Centre Pompidou purchased one of her works for their permanent collection.
[12] A few months later in 2019, Instagram held a closed meeting to discuss censorship, art, and nudity on their software platform.
Some artists joined the meeting, including Micol Hebron, Marilyn Minter, Joanne Leah, and Siddhant Talwar.
[14] Tompkins first major body of work was a series of paintings depicting a male and female figure engaging in sexual intercourse.
Rather than idealizing the act of fornication by having one body or the other exude dominance or beauty above the other, she equalizes the figures by showing only their genitalia, in congress.
[15] The works were produced using hundreds of layers of spray paint, using a finely-calibrated airbrush to build from underdrawing to final image.
Inspired by that performance, the artist then set out to create 1,000 individual word paintings, intending the series to be presented en masse once complete.